Mistaken Identity or Fate?
by Jade Dragon1
Summary: The new girl in town caught Ebisu's eye, immediately-- Naruto! What are you up to!-Ebisu's mistake could lead him into a very bad week.
1. Mistaken Identity

Hi, After a very long time- I have finally decided to update this story

Hi, After a very long time- I have finally decided to update this story. Please be aware that it is somewhat AU-- I started this story way before I ever read about the Atasuki or Sasuke running off to Orchimaru, so many of those events aren't even mentioned. There is no beta- so you will find some grammatical errors. Quite frankly, I am too lazy to proofread that closely.

This story involves an original character. The girl is just a normal person, with a real job that is a family tradition and requires training and skill to pursue. But is not magic or unusual really, nor is she a ninja, although she does have some skill with knives—well, she makes them she should know at least the basics of using them or how would she know if her product would function correctly? I think she is going to be quite interesting to write about though, as she has a personality that matches the words on her shirt "Sassy!" And it is highly likely that I misspelled names in this. Sorry, it's getting late and I didn't want to look them up right now.

-

The air of the market was buzzing with excitement. It was one of the first bright days of spring and most of the village was out to enjoy the fine weather. Anito had dressed in her favorite pair of super short black shorts and a dark blue tank shirt that showed off her stomach piercing to perfection. The shirt had the word "sassy" written across the front of it. She hummed happily to herself as she walked out the front door of her brother's new shop. She loved spring; it was her favorite time of the year, her blue eyes shined and her blond hair shined in the sun. She had pulled it up into two ponytails today. It was probably her favorite way to wear it.

She wanted to get out and explore this new village that she had accompanied her brother too. Earlier that month her family had received a request from the Hokage of this town, requesting a blade smith from her family to come and set up a business their as the last one they had died of old age. Her family was a very well known name for making blades. It was also a very large family, proud of its craft. Her older brother had finally been deemed to be a master by the family elders and wanted to set out on his own to form his own business, so he had come here in answer to the request. Anito had tagged along to assist him and to further improve her own skills, as her brother would need a journeyman level assistant at the very least.

Anito pulled her wallet out of her pocket to make sure she still had her money. There were a few things that she wanted to buy to furnish her new room, so she set off looking for a stall that sold fabrics. She found one fairly easily and stood looking at the myriad colors when someone pulled on her wrist hard and held it in an uncompromising grip.

"Hey! What are you doing!"

Ebisu had spotted the blue eyed blond walking casually through the market and grew annoyed at the way that the impersonator easily moved among the stalls. 'Naruto, I don't know what prank you are pulling here, put I won't allow it.' He muttered to himself. He hurried to the blond girl carefully trying to control his body's need to suddenly break out into a cold sweat and start bleeding from his nose. This henge form of Naruto's was way to appealing. It was even cuter than before, with that little ring in the navel and small dragon tattoo surrounding it. Thoughts of dipping his tongue into the little crevice as the girl moaned under his mouth flitted through his mind briefly, disturbing his peace of mind to no end with its implications. He grabbed the figures wrist in a punishing grip not wanting Naruto to slither away from him as he had proved on many occasions to be quite capable of. "Come on, Naruto, I am taking you to the Hokage. There is no getting out of it this time. You little troublemaker." The person he was pulling on tugged back in surprise at the rough treatment.

"Oh, Hey what are you doing? That hurts." The girl yelled.

Ebisu ignored the cries and pulled the struggling girl after him to the Hokage's office. Many of the villagers looked on intensely puzzled by the scene of one of the elite Jounin, pulling a struggling girl by her wrist. "Hokage Sama! " Ebisu burst into the Hokage's office, in a self-righteous rage. "He was pulling pranks again!"

"Whom are you talking about?" Tsuande asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"Naruto that damn boy was trying to pull some kind of prank down in the market." He pulled the girl out from behind him and shoved her towards the Hokage.

"Umm Ebisu, .." The Hokage started.

"Ne, Ne Sakura-chan, do you want to go get some ramen?" A question was heard shouted through the open door of the office as Kakashi stepped in followed by his team, including Naruto.

Ebisu's jaw about hit the floor as he looked from the girl to Naruto and back again. She managed to pull her aching wrist out of his grasp in his moment of surprise. "You jerk!" She yelled and kicked him as hard as she could in the shin.

The people familiar with Naruto's sexy no jutsu form were amazed at the close resemblance between the girl and Naruto.

"Yes, as I was about to ay, Ebisu, that's not Naruto." Tsuande stepped in.

"Hi, my name is Anito." The blond turned and bowed to the Hokage. I just moved here with my brother to open a weapons shop. We are blade smiths."

"Ah, yes, I believe that I have most of your paperwork and we have just finished your citizenship paperwork a little while ago. You can pick that up on the third window from the right down the hall."

"Thank you Hokage Sama." Anito bowed again.

Tsuande did not fail to notice the darkening bruise around the girl's wrist. She frowned in displeasure at the rough treatment the innocent girl had received at the hands of one of her shinobi. "Ebisu, I think you owe this girl an apology and because you have bruised her wrist by dragging her all the way here, I think that you also should be punished. A shinobi should not be so quick to make assumptions. You are going to be this young lady's personal servant for the rest of the week. You will help her in anyway that she thinks she can use your assistance, and you are to escort her around the village and introduce her to people. I truly expect better of such an elite ninja such as yourself." Tsuande shamed him in front of everyone, making her displeasure at his conduct quite obvious.

"Ha ha ha! " Naruto laughed loudly. "Closet pervert got punished!"

"This is all your fault Naruto!" Ebisu yelled at him and stalked out the door. "I'll go fetch her paperwork." He slammed the door behind him.

"I have wanted to take that boy down a peg or two for some time now. Did you see the expression on his face." The Hokage laughed. "Hey, Naruto, why don't you introduce your team and then show Anito why Ebisu thought she was you." The woman suggested.

"Sure. This is Sakura and Sasuke and our teacher Kakashi," he waved at each in turn as they came to greet her. "And this," Naruto made a few hand seals, "Is my sexy no jutso!" Naruto changed into the form of a cute blond that was quite well built and looked so much like Anito that they could be twins.

"Oh my!" Was all she could manage at the site of the naked mirror image of herself standing in front of her. "I know that people say that everyone has a look alike in this world, but this is too much." She murmured to herself in shock.


	2. Shopping Hell

Well, this story is quite fluffy for the most part, a little ecchi too. But I am having some fun with it, so I hope that the readers are enjoying it also.   
  
Ebisu traveled down the hall on his errand, head down and cheeks burning in embarrassment. He could hear the teasing from his fellow ninja already. He gritted his teeth in frustration, he hated looking like an idiot. However, it never seemed to fail when Naruto was involved, even if it was by proxy.  
  
'I guess I do deserve the punishment though, especially after bruising that cute chick's arm so badly.' That thought made his face glow with shame. Grabbing the papers he needed, he hurried back to the Hokage's office.  
  
In the meantime, Anito got acquainted with the members of Team 7. Although she was a few years older than the 16 and 17 year olds; she could tell they would be fun to hang out with.  
  
Sakura and Naruto asked her questions about where she was from and how she liked the village. Kakashi offered to show her around after Naruto for her to confess that she was 22 years old. Anito found it difficult to withhold information from the energetic teen. Sasuke stood back and feigned disinterest, but secretly enjoyed meeting the bubbly blond, she was like Naruto in a lot of ways. Thankfully, she wasn't as loud or tactless.  
  
Ebisu arrived back in the room just in time to hear Sakura.  
  
"What are your plans for today, Anito? We just finished a mission, so I could show you around." Sakura shot a glare at Kakashi, mentally calling him a pervert.  
  
"Thanks, for the offer, but Hokage-Sama has provided me with an assistant. However, it would be great if we could meet for dinner and if you could go to the bath with me. You are the only female I have met so far, besides Tsunade Sama."  
  
"Sure, why don't we meet at the ramen shop around six." Sakura looked at Naruto, whose eyes had lit up at the word ramen, she knew better than to leave him out. "You come also Naruto, actually everyone should come, that way Anito can meet some people and we can welcome her to the village." Sakura smiled at the thought of the impromptu party.  
  
'Alright!" Naruto cheered.  
  
"That sounds like fun," Anito agreed. She spotted Ebisu sulking into the room. "I need to go now, see you later, Sakura-chan, Naruto-chan." She winked at Naruto and waved goodbye to Kakashi and Sasuke. She had grown to like the small group very quickly and appreciated Naruto's slapstick sense of humor. She acknowledged her look alike by calling him chan instead of kun, because of his girl genjutso. Naruto's face lit up in a happy grin. "Ebisu-san, I need to go back to the market and do my shopping." She waited a full minute while he just looked at her waiting for something. 'Well, I don't know where it is. So you will have to show me. I am not a ninja and I have a difficult time paying attention to directions when I am being forcibly moved about like a rag doll." She stated calmly. 'You big jerk.' She added mentally. 'I wonder if I can make this a true form of hell for him. He does deserve it for hurting me.' Anito turned to follow the stern looking man out to the street with a tired sigh.  
  
'Geez, does he always wear those dark glasses. He is way to pompous for my taste, he acts like he thinks he is God's gift to the world or something.'  
  
Naruto had, of course, relayed the entire story of the closet pervert/Harem no jutso incident, well he left out some of it (the more personal remarks). Kakashi had remarked that it sounded like an interesting way to fill the afternoon, and of course, Naruto and Sakura had shouted, "PERVERT!" Sasuke rolled his eyes in disbelief and Anito giggled at the picture it created.  
  
Back in the market, Ebisu slowed down and waited impatiently for Anito to catch up.  
  
"What do you want to buy?" He curtly asked the out of breath girl. "I have far more important things I need to be doing."  
  
'I need fabric and some other things for my bedroom." Anito frowned at his bad attitude. She looked around to try to find something familiar. "Oh, that's where I was when you grabbed me." She pointed showing off her black and blue wrist with clearly marked finger outlines.  
  
The jounin gulped a little to see the prominent bruising. He felt ashamed for having hurt a civilian in such a stupid manner. He bowed his head, "I am sorry I hurt you." He spoke quietly.  
  
"I'll forgive you but, you really need to learn some self-control, you probably don't even realize how strong you are." The blond strolled over to the stall, gently touching the fabrics. "Hmm, this is beautiful."  
  
She pulled out an iridescent bolt in shades of red and gold. "I want this bolt and this one." She pulled out another bolt in iridescent purples and gold. 'These will be gorgeous draped around my walls. I can do sunset colors as a theme."  
  
The proprietor smiled at the girl, dollar signs quite obvious in his eyes.  
  
Looking through some other fabrics she saw a beautiful dark purple silk. "Oh, Ebisu isn't this great? Feel this it's so luxurious."  
  
Ebisu reached out to touch it. "Yes, it's nice." He commented.  
  
"It will make such nice sheets." Anito glanced at him, feeling naughty; with the information she received from Naruto she has the perfect way to torment the young man. "I can't wait to slip into these sheets and feel the silk clinging to my bare skin. What an incredible sensation." She sighed in delight, murmuring the comment just loud enough for Ebisu to hear.  
  
"I can't believe you, that is so so.. Decadent." He stuttered out. He could not conceal the hot flush on his face as his mind went out of control; picturing her and adding him, touching her through the smooth silk.  
  
"And your point is? I am an adult after all even if I look like I am still too young for such things. I see no shame in indulging my senses in such a way." She turned away from him in a huff to pay the shopkeeper.  
  
She pulled the money from her wallet and handed it over to the waiting man. It put quite a dent in her savings, but it was worth it. She did have to see her room every day, so making it into a warm and beautiful place was her goal.  
  
"I can have these delivered for you miss." The man offered.  
  
"That's alright, just wrap them for me and we will take them with us." Anito smiled a winning expression at the merchant.  
  
"Of course." The man smiled back and wrapped the package then turned to hand it to Ebisu. "Your girlfriend has excellent taste young man. You are very lucky."  
  
The jounin hastily picked up the heavy and awkward package, blushing yet again. "Umm, thanks." He stuttered, not knowing what else to say without it sounding insulting to both parties. 


	3. Painting and craftmanship

Ebisu groaned, how much more would this crazy girl make him carry? Two lamps, bolts of fabric, paint, pictures, drapery, aggh! His patience was quickly coming to an end.  
  
"I am finished, finally. Let's take this home and get some lunch." Anito gestured for him to follow, not looking at him. She had a small smirk on her face.  
  
"You made me carry all this junk around for hours on purpose! It could have all been delivered, but no you just had to insist on using me as a beast of burden." Ebisu could no longer restrain his comments. "And I don't know what you are thinking, your room is going to look like a high price bordello." He said scathingly.  
  
She turned to face him then with an angry glare. "Ya know, I was going to let you go for the day after I made lunch, but now I think I have something else that you need to do instead, you holier-than-thou prig." The blond turned around and stomped off towards her home.  
  
'Crap! I just had to open my mouth again, I don't know why, but something about this girl brings out the absolute worst in me. She's nothing like my Becky.' Ebisu followed the storming girl to her house and carefully navigated the steps to the second floor apartment.  
  
"Just leave this stuff in the hall." Anito told him. "I'm going to make some lunch and show you how to complete your next task." She led the way through the shop and into the kitchen, pulling food out of the fridge and started to make meat buns.  
  
Anito fried a large plate of the bbq meat buns and set them on the table. She then yelled for a couple of people to come in and eat and shut the shop for a few minutes.  
  
A slightly older man came in followed by two young boys. "This is my brother Hito and his apprentices, Sai and Yuni." She introduced them to Ebisu. "This is Ebisu and he is a Leaf Jounin who will be helping me around the house this week, courtesy of the Hokage."  
  
Hito shook Ebisu's hand and the two young apprentices bowed. "OK, boys eat up and then go back to sharpening those shuriken." Hito grabbed a plate and sat at the table with his sister and Ebisu. "What happened to your hand? That's going to make it hard for you to hammer out the blades I need today." He remarked with some concern to Anito.  
  
"It will be ok, I just have to brace it, its only surface bruising. The matter has already been taken care of." Anito neatly avoided answering the rest of his question, knowing that the circumstances would make her brother outraged at the jounin sitting with them.  
  
"As you say then. But I am not happy with it." Hito got back to his food.  
  
Ebisu controlled his expression, remaining poker faced and not making any comments that would undoubtfully land him further into trouble. Anito went to a desk in the corner and pulled a file out, putting it in front of Ebisu. "This is what you will be working on this afternoon." She informed him, opening it to a page that showed a multi-layer color wash done in pencil. "You will be making my walls look like this."  
  
"Wow, that doesn't look easy." The young man mumbled.  
  
"That's my Sis for you, she is considered the artistic one in this family, which is saying a lot considering we all have to draw and design to create templates for our blades. She could probably be a painter or fine artist if she wanted to." Hito smiled fondly at his sister.  
  
"It's just a hobby, although I have sold a few paintings and other pieces. Our family heritage means a lot to me." She glanced down at her food, slightly embarrassed by her brother's praise. "I have some designs I want to go over with you for my masters piece later, if you have a chance Hito." She smiled at him.  
  
"Sure, I will look them over and send them off to the family for approval so that you can begin on it in a couple of months."  
  
"Masters piece? What's that? I always thought of a masterpiece as a work of art or something? " Ebisu asked curiously.  
  
"Well a masters piece is a work of art, but it is something that is carefully designed and created with absolutely perfect craftsmanship and then submitted to a guild or in our case family for judging in order to be considered a master of the craft. Currently, I am a journeyman, but it will take over a year to complete the sword I have to make to be elevated to a master."  
  
"The katana is considered the pinnacle of craftsmanship among sword makers. And while my sister could have easily passed a masters level test from another family or a guild, our family has incredibly high standards nothing less than perfection or extraordinary will suffice." Hito stated proudly. "Our entire family is very dedicated to the craft and we start training in it at a very young age. This will be Anito's second attempt to gain the masters level."  
  
"I see. So how long have you been practicing your craft?" The ninja asked.  
  
"Let me think... I started as an apprentice when I was four, so 19 years." Anito answered tapping a finger lightly on her chin.  
  
Ebisu followed Anito back to her room where she laid out the paints and instructed him on how to get the color effect that she wanted. She then went back to the shop and started working on a small anvil to forge some kunai blades.  
  
She was wrapped up in her work and did not even notice when Ebisu came down the stairs. "It's almost time to go to the ramen stand." He told her, wiping some paint off his hands.  
  
The blond looked up from the blade that was almost finished. "Just a second, I have to finish this before the metal cools." After a few minutes of hammering, she gave a sigh and stretched, her shoulders and arms were starting to ache from the work of making the knives.  
  
The jounin watched her as she concentrated on her project, leaning casually against the wall. His chore was not quite finished, so he knew that he would be back the next day to complete it. As she stretched to release the kinks in her back and shoulders, Ebisu's mind created pictures of her stretching under his hands, and rubbing against him like a sleepy cat. 'Damn, I have got to quit thinking like this.' He mentally slapped himself.  
  
Anito ran up the stair and came back with a sports bag that had fresh clothes and bathing supplies inside it. "I'm ready, if you will just show me where the place is then you can go, but be back here at 9 a.m. tomorrow." She motioned for him to precede her out the door.  
  
"Yeah, I will be." They walked along in silence. "There it is." He pointed to a small restaurant about a block down the street and before Anito could even turn to say goodbye, he disappeared.  
  
"That guy needs to learn some manners." She murmured to herself. 


	4. Meeting more people and Ephiphany for Hi...

Anito threw a frown over her shoulder at the departing jounin and hurried to join what appeared to be a small army of people. Naruto bounced up to her and grabbed her hand.  
  
"Oh, you're here! There are some people we want you to meet." He rushed her towards the group.  
  
"Naruto don't pull the girl she got enough of that earlier today." Kakashi admonished lightly.  
  
"Oops, sorry, Anito Chan." The boy quickly released her hand and apologized.  
  
"That's ok, Naruto Chan." Anito smiled.  
  
"Well, how about I introduce you to everyone." Sakura stepped forward. "This is Lee, Hinata, Neji, Shikamura, Ino, Chouji, Shino, Ten Ten, and Kiba." Sakura pointed to each of the other young ninjas in turn. "The older ninjas are Iruka Sensei and Gai sensei. Of course, you have already met my team."  
  
"Wow, I wasn't expecting this many people to be here. I am a little overwhelmed. You will have to excuse me if I forget your names." She bowed to them in greeting.  
  
"That's alright Anito San," Kakashi spoke as he lazily draped an arm around her shoulders. Iruka and Gai frowned at the silver haired jounin, well aware of his perverted mind.  
  
"Um, Yeah, he he he." The blond girl slid away from his arm. "So what's good on the menu? I am really hungry." Sakura waved her over to a seat by Neji, frowning at Kakashi's forward behaviour.  
  
"I can recommend the kitsune ramen and the shrimp ramen or the miso ramen or the pork ramen..." Naruto offered before being interrupted by Kiba. a/n(this is a real type of ramen and udon and no there isn't any fox in it, it contains Naruto- a fish sausage that reveals a pink stripe when cut crosswise and baked tofu.)  
  
"That's enough! Naruto you are so obsessed with ramen that you would list the entire menu!" Kiba yelled at him. Naruto smiled good-naturedly.  
  
"Too true."  
  
"Umm, How about some pork ramen." Anito settled back into her place on the bench just taking in the varied personalities around her. Ino and Sakura were trying to draw the quiet Hinata out; Neji appeared relaxed but did not seem to be the talkative type. Sasuke and Shikamura had their heads bent over a go board. While Kiba, Lee and Kiba argued in a friendly banter about the merits of different techniques.  
  
Ten Ten finished her bowl of food and started talking to the blond girl about her favorite thing. "I use a lot of blades in my fighting style and some of them seem to hold up so much better than others and some seem to go dull before I have done anything with them. Can you tell me what is going on?"  
  
This started the young blade smith off on a topic that she could easily relate to the ninjas with. "Well, a lot of problems are from the type pf metal that is used and from how it was formed and sharpened originally. Blades with harder steel tend to be very brittle and will chip and knick quickly, swords made out of it will break if over stressed and you can't use as tight of an angle on the bevel of the blade when sharpening it or you will weaken the cutting edge. However, blades that are made out of too soft of a metal will not hold an edge very well and when you use them they are almost immediately dull. The trick is to blend the too types of steel together in folds to cover the weakness of both types. That is why swords are made of folded metal. There are incredibly thin layers of hard and soft steel beaten together to give both strength and flexibility. Chances are that you are buying kunai and shuriken that are really worthless hunks of metal."  
  
"That makes a lot of sense. I think I should come to your shop and have you help me pick out my next set of kunai." Ten Ten replied.  
  
Iruka spoke up, "You know so much about weapons and how to care for them, it would be great if you could come in and give my students a lecture on the topic." He smiled an easy grin. His brown eyes flashing as she smiled back. 'I can't believe that there is actually a real girl that looks just like Naruto's henge form. Thank god she doesn't run around naked and make those heated little whimpers or I would never be able to recover from the blood loss.' He carefully controlled the expression on his face as he thought this. Kakashi and Gai looked at each other, quirking an eyebrow at the slight blush they could see creeping up the back of the instructor's neck.  
  
Gai stood up in an odd pose. "I have heard that this poor beautiful flower was greatly abused and manhandled today by one of our own jounin. I will somehow redeem the Leaf Shinobi in your eyes, sweet lady." He announced in a melodramatic manner.  
  
"Really, Gai Sensei, that's not necessary." Anito stammered out in embarrassment.  
  
"An, Anito San, I have an ointment that might help the swelling and pain from the bruising heal faster." Hinata, blushing a bit as she rummaged in her bag looking for the little jar she stuffed in it earlier.  
  
"Thank you so much Hinata." Anito smoothed some of it into her skin. "The pain is already going away. This is wonderful." She gave the other girl an amazed look. "Are you training to be a medic nin? It would seem that you have quite the talent for it."  
  
"You're too kind. A medic nin? I wonder."  
  
Neji looked at her in a discerning manner, "You know, it really isn't a bad idea. You have a compassionate nature and would not make a good ANBU member because of it, however you have developed inner strength that a good medic nin needs in nasty situations. Plus with the blood line talents, you could easily see where internal damage is on someone without having to do extensive testing and with your knowledge of pressure points and how they affect the body, you could have some serious advantages in that area. I think you should talk to Tsunade about training for it and have her talk to your father about it. If she does and gets him to see how successful you would be at it, he would probably let you do it and back off on some of his other issues."  
  
Hinata's face glowed with delight, she had the look of someone who had searched for enlightenment for years and suddenly discovered the key to unlock the door to truth. "Yes, you are both right. I will go and talk to Tsunade about this first thing tomorrow."  
  
"Hey girls, are we ready to go to the hot springs bath?" Sakura asked.  
  
A rapid chorus of yes answered and the girls gathered their things to go, still chatting with each other animatedly.  
  
"It was such a great pleasure meeting you all. Please feel free to come and visit me anytime." Anito bowed to the crowd as the girls made their way out.  
  
"Hmm, I think I have something to do." Kakashi mumbled to himself.  
  
"You better not be going to spy on those girls, you damn pervert." Naruto yelled at him.  
  
'Damn that kid knows me to well.' "Now really Naruto, I am an elite shinobi I do not spy on women bathing." 'I just peek a bit.' Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.  
  
"That liar." Naruto huffed. 


	5. Let's Party or dinner with piercings

Thanks to all the people who have taken the time to review my story— Again, my spelling for some terms of names may not be correct. I just realized that Tenten is one word not two. C'est La Vie! Also, the short talk where Anito explained about blade strength is real, but I'm not going into actual metal density or the way blades are formed other than the forged kind. I had to attend a lecture on this for culinary school of all things.  
  
Short chapter-well shorter than usual.  
  
Obviously, I am not the owner of Naruto—that's why it's on a fanfic site.  
  
The group of girls talked animatedly as they walked to the outdoor bath. They regaled their new friend with tales of their adventures as shinobi. Anito was fascinated by their many exploits. Most of the large group she met had made chunin rank over the past few years and some were going for their jounin level soon.  
  
After quickly washing her hair, she made her way outside to the hot spring. It was a large area divided by a tall fence to separate the men's and women's sides.  
  
The girls had started an excited conversation about a new radio star and some of the new ninja fashions when they heard a loud yell on the other side of the fence.  
  
"Cannon Ball!" Splash!  
  
"Naruto, you idiot! Behave!" Sasuke's protest carried over the fence. "Anyone would think that you are still 12 years old instead of nearly a jounin!"  
  
The girls looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Well, it looks like our #1 loudest, hyperactive, unpredictable ninja and the rest of the gang decided to join us." Sakura winced laughing.  
  
"Might as well make it a party." Ino added.  
  
"Hey great idea. Boys!" Anito shouted to get their attention. "When we finish here everyone's invited back to my place. We can set up a party on our target range!"  
  
"Sure! Sounds great! OK!" Were the various answers she received.  
  
Meanwhile, across town Ebisu was having a nice gourmet dinner with his very uptight girlfriend. He looked at her sitting on the other side of the table, her medium length brown hair done up in an elegant twist, a sleeveless silk dress with a high Mandarin collar and a primly set mouth made up the picture. He started to wonder as she went on and on about her daddy's business plans, if she ever really smiled. She had a very proper and ladylike laugh and a tight-lipped smile that was starting to look quite fake. She never did anything that was not totally within high societies approved list of activities.  
  
As Becky rattled on, Ebisu's mind drifted back to his day with Anito. Abruptly, his girlfriend calling his name took him away from his intimate fantasy of a cute, pierced and tattooed navel.  
  
"I swear Ebisu! You are not even paying attention to me at all. What is your problem this evening? You hardly even touched your food."  
  
"Sorry Becky, I had a very long day and I am feeling a bit drained."  
  
"You poor dear." She became immediately sympathetic. "Did you tutor some brat again today?"  
  
"No, "he sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it though."  
  
I see well all right. Those brats really aren't good enough for you."  
  
"As you say," he agreed not wanting to argue.  
  
He spent the rest of dinner making occasional comments to her constant stream of chatter and escorted her home like a good boyfriend. Then he made his own way home and threw himself onto his bed. He flipped on his radio to a light jazz station and lay back to contemplate just where his life had gone wrong. 


	6. Love in the Air

Thanks to my reviewers and the others who are enjoying this but don't review. Anyway part of this chapter was inspired by Anything. Thanks for the idea (. I know I write short chapters- but well, I can only go so long before the writer's block falls from the wire that is suspended over my computer.  
  
The girls had changed into their fresh clothes and the guys met up with them outside the building.  
  
"I have soft drinks and punch at the house, but Sakura and Tenten volunteered to get some snacks on the way to my place, so I guess if anyone wants to bring something feel free." Anito spoke up cheerfully.  
  
A few of the group broke off to grab some things to bring over and the rest followed Anito to her house where she introduced them to her brother and the two young apprentices. Iruka had seen the twins around school but they weren't in any of his classes because they were only taking general education courses.  
  
He casually mentioned to Hito that he was amazed at the resemblance between Naruto and Anito. The sword smith looked thoughtful. "Well, it is possible that we are distantly related to some of the people here. I believe, if I remember my family history correctly two members from our family had moved here when this village was first settled. One was a newly appointed master blade smith like myself and the other was his much younger brother. Not much was written in the family scrolls about those two because the family historian lost track of them after a time. But I do remember that the younger brother gave up making blades while still a very young apprentice and trained instead to be a shinobi. The last blade smith was also a member of my family and that is why we were requested to replace him when he died."  
  
"That's really interesting. So it could be more than a coincidence. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to discover the truth of it because unless a family keeps its own history most of the town's past is usually not recorded. A lot of it is even classified as secret information." Iruka added.  
  
"I guess that is to be expected in a shinobi village."  
  
Hito and Iruka continued to chat about different aspects of the town that the new villager was not yet familiar with and about Sai and Yuni's school life and teachers.  
  
Ino and Hinata followed Anito up to her unfurnished room where she pulled open a closet to gather her boom box and some cds. Ino looked a bit puzzled, "Why don't you have any furniture in here?"  
  
"Well, the painting on the walls and some of the other decorating need to be finished first before I move in my things otherwise it co0uld get messed up. I had Ebisu working on it today and he got about half done." This was the first time she really got to look around at the room since she had instructed Ebisu on the technique to get the effect she was looking for. There was one spot done in dark purple that seemed somewhat out of place and did not really fit in with the pattern. She stepped closer to take a better look. The other two girls also looked at it and slowly three looked at each other and blinked then looked at it again.  
  
"Is that...?" Hinata whispered in amazement.  
  
"I think so." Ino answered equally surprised.  
  
"Ebisu is so dead." Anito added glaring at the purple silhouette of a very busty, obviously naked girl with long ponytails painted onto her wall.  
  
Some where in another part of town a confused jounin started to sneeze violently.  
  
The girls tromped back downstairs as they began conspiring ways to make Ebisu's life truly interesting and possibly painful.  
  
The party got under way fairly quickly. Someone slipped a large amount of alcohol into the punch and that seemed to liven up even the least talkative of the group. Fortunately, for everyone's safety, Rock Lee had decided to drink tea instead. He mentioned something about tea cleansing the body that was his temple. No one wanted to know the details of that, thank you very much.  
  
Neji was sitting in a corner with about his fifth glass of the strong punch when he seemed to snap out of some kind of daze and notice Hinata dancing tentatively with some of the others. He got to his feet and staggered over to her as a slow song started. "May I have this dance?" He slurred slightly. Hinata just nodded in shock.  
  
"Ya.. You know, Hinata, you are very pretty girl. I think that we should, we should," he paused thinking hard. "We should ask your father if we could date." He stated with absolute sincerity, his eyes slightly glazed and unfocused looked deep into hers.  
  
"Umm, maybe so. Neji-kun." Hinata frowned. "But maybe we should discuss this more tomorrow when we have some time alone and you are thinking more clearly." She told him. Hinata had given up on her crush with Naruto. He was a great friend but their personalities were too different and she had realized that being around him for long periods of time could stress her out. Neji on the other hand, was a very peaceful, if somewhat angsty and dark person. She knew her father would approve as he was so gifted with the family bloodline. Actually she would be surprised if her father had not been planning to arrange such a marriage from the start, if for no other reason then to bring his brother's child into the main family and suppress his own guilt. While it was not a common practice any more, it was not unheard of for cousins to marry to strengthen family bloodline traits. Plus, after Neji had returned from some of his more dangerous missions, he had gradually warmed up to her a she occasionally took care of his wounds. He even seemed to genuinely like her, although it was hard to tell as he kept most expressions deeply under wrap.  
  
Hinata relaxed into Neji's strong arms and smiled softly considering his words as he clumsily danced with her.  
  
Iruka approached his blond hostess as she was refilling a tray of cookies. He felt slightly tipsy but didn't really think about it. He reached for a cookie and brushed against Anito's hand. 'Oh, umm sorry." His cheeks turned slightly pink and glanced down shyly.  
  
'Oh, he is too cute.' Anito thought. "It's no problem. So when would you like me to come in and talk with your class?" She tilted her head to the side, her big blue eyes looking into his curiously.  
  
"If you don't mind, I would like to take you out to dinner tomorrow night and we could discuss it." Iruka asked, he felt better having said it. He had not been able to take his eyes off the girl since he had met her. Her strong resemblance to Naruto's sexy no jutso (which he occasionally fantasized about when he least expected it) was awe inspiring, but what really hooked his interest was the fact that she had an intelligent mind, a lot of self-confidence, an easy going personality and a honest and caring heart. She was easy to read (especially for someone like himself who had been trained to pick up on even the smallest pieces of clues as to a person's true nature) and get to know, hiding nothing about her self and unashamed about being who she truly was. He felt like he had known her all his life and wanted to learn more about her.  
  
"I would like that." She answered.  
  
Across the room, Kakashi was chatting with Gai and Asume, but he missed none of the little exchanges taking place around him. 'Hmm, and Kakashi plays cupid with his secret stash of extra strong sake.' He congratulated himself, although, a tiny bit envious that he had not had the chance to ask out Anito before Iruka did. 'Oh well, all's fair in love and war. I can't wait to tell Jiraiya about this, he will probably base a chapter of his new book on it.' He crowed to himself in delight. 


	7. Ebisu gets lucky?

Well, here is a chapter that I found to be pretty funny and I sincerely hope all of you who read it do as well. I know I probably spelled the illusion technique wrong, but that's the way it goes sometimes.  
  
Anito had thoroughly enjoyed herself at the party, getting to know all the interesting people she had just met was helping her appreciate moving so far from home. She brushed out her hair and pulled on a tight mid tank top and baggy black jeans that threatened to fall off her hips. It was one of her favorite outfits, also one that irritated her brother, which gave her all the more reason to wear it. She poured herself a glass of juice and pulled out her old sewing machine to start working on her drapery. Ebisu would be showing up soon and she had all ready plotted how to get him back for his ecchi painting on her wall. Sakura was admitted through the door connecting to the shop.  
  
"Are you ready?" She questioned smiling widely, normally it was Naruto who pulled the pranks, but she knew this would be enjoyable. She had only told Ino before the other night but, she had accidentally bumped into Ebisu once while she was carrying groceries for her mother and he had given her a look of absolute disdain before turning abruptly and walking away. She relished this chance to get back at the arrogant ass for his slight.  
  
"Yeah, I dug out my instant camera and have plenty of film for it. This is going to be too funny." They both started giggling.  
  
The heard the expected jounin greeting her brother in the shop and Anito gestured for Sakura to hide her self in the utility room. Ebisu stepped through the door and barely managed to say hello.  
  
"Oh hi. Well, why don't you head back up to my room and start painting again, I'll be up in a minute to take a look at it." She gestured at him.  
  
"Right." He turned and walked up the stairs to the room and prepared the equipment he needed.  
  
The poor jounin would never in a million years have guessed what was coming his way. Sakura stealthily crept up the stair and made some hand signs focusing on forming a genjutso. She had made Kakashi teach her how to do an elaborate one by following him around the entire day and taking shots at his Icha Icha Violence (ep # 84) novel that he had purchased the a few weeks ago. Not wanting to see his beloved book full of holes he had quickly conceded. Hand signs completed she focused her charka and sent out the illusion to wrap around Ebisu's mind.  
  
Ebisu turned to see a scantily clad Anito walking in the door behind him. She must have been getting ready for the shower because she only had a towel wrapped around her. She walked to the closet, ignoring him, and reached up to grab something on the top shelf. She had to use both hands to catch it and the towel slipped to the floor. Ebisu was in shock. The girl blushed and turned to face him, not bothering with the towel.  
  
"Don't you want me?" She cooed. "I think you have me at a disadvantage. Why don't you take off some of those clothes?" She whispered sliding closed to him, but just out of reach. Ebisu's brain quit working. He started stripping off his clothes on autopilot.  
  
"Come get me cutey." The girl beckoned, laughing lightly. They were running through a field of wild flowers and laughing. She turned and blew him a kiss and just as he was bout to grasp her in his hands, she disappeared.  
  
The confused ninja looked around for the pretty girl, totally missing the noise of the camera taking multiple images of him. He slowly came out of his dazed state and realized he was standing in the street in nothing but his white boxers with red hearts, sporting a very obvious hard on. He gathered his senses together and made a quick hand sign poofing out of sight.  
  
The old woman down the street who had been sweeping her porch sighed. "Too bad you don't get to see many of those at my age." She cackled to herself highly amused.  
  
Anito and Sakura had agreed to meet up at the ramen bar down the street. They were both laughing like they had gone insane. Sakura had never pranked anyone before, but she could understand why Naruto liked it so much after this little incident.  
  
Anito pulled the pictures out of her pocket showing Ebisu trying to grab something arms out stretched and one of him making a kissy face and another of him stripping out of his clothes. "Oh, my god! That was too much. Do you think we overdid it?" She asked breathlessly of Sakura feeling slightly guilty for traumatizing the young man.  
  
"I think he'll recover, eventually. After all, he is a ninja. He needs to learn grace under pressure." Sakura laughed as she looked at the pictures. "Damn, I never would have guessed that arrogant jerk had such a nice package." She pointed at the picture.  
  
"No joke. Maybe that is why he is so arrogant." They looked at each other and busted out laughing again.  
  
"Hey, Hey now. What's going on?" Kakashi showed up and looked over their shoulders before they even realized he was there. "Oh, is that who I think it is?" He took a closer look at the picture. "Why is Ebisu in the street in his boxers?" He looked again. "Wow, I think he's bigger than I am." Kakashi picked up the picture and ran across the room. "Gai, check this out!"  
  
"Oops, that wasn't supposed to happen." Anito looked nervously at Sakura who was chewing her lip. "Let's put the rest of these away before someone else sees them. Oh gee, I didn't mean to get him embarrassed by every jounin in town." The blond girl really felt guilty at the idea of every body seeing him exposed that way. She was not intentionally a cruel person and she knew that Ebisu would be deeply humiliated by this little prank.  
  
"Yikes, this is not good. I will go get the picture back." Sakura darted over to the two men who were laughing at the picture and pulled it quickly out of Kakashi's hand while screaming, "Hentai!" The startled shinobi did not react fast enough to get it back as she ran back to the table with Anito.  
  
"Well, that is some damage control anyway." Anito murmured as she slipped the picture of the abused man back into her purse away from prying eyes. "I think I had better avoid my room for a couple of hours, want to go shopping? I have a date to go on tonight and need something to wear."  
  
"Sounds great. We can drop by and get Ino on the way to the shop. There is a nice boutique near her place that has some things you would probably like."  
  
"Let's go!"  
  
Kakashi and Gai looked after the two retreating girls. "Remind me to never get on the bad side of those two, they fight dirty." Kakashi remarked. Gai nodded his head in complete agreement. 


	8. Ebisu's revenge

To all my reviewers: Thank you for taking the time to write a few words for me. They do give me a bit of inspiration and I appreciate the effort. Not much really going on in this chapter. There are some points of resolution between Neji and Hinata and of course Ebisu's revenge.  
  
Anito had found a really nice baby doll style dress in dark blue that snugged under her chest and flowed out in loose gathers to mid thigh. Sakura and Ino agreed that it would be perfect for a date with Iruka. So after spending a couple of hours out, she bid goodbye to her friends and slunk back to her house, dreading the angry jounin that she was sure would launch a shuriken at her head the moment he saw her.  
  
When she got back to her room, it was finished. The walls looked exactly like the pictures that she had drawn. But Ebisu wasn't there. She released her breath in a sigh of relief. She also felt vaguely let down, like she missed the conflict. She went down to the shop trying to find her indentured ninja.  
  
"Oh, you're back, Anito." Her brother looked up from the katana he was forging. "I told Ebisu that he could leave for the day since he got your room finished and you weren't here. It seemed that he was getting ill or something. He definitely looked ill."  
  
"Ok, I hope he's not really sick." Anito stated worriedly. She was starting to feel guilty again. It was a very underhanded trick. "I'm going to start on the drapes and sheets and things for my room."  
  
"That's fine. The twins will be home from school soon. By the way, I like that young teacher that you are going out with tonight. He is a man with good character and seems to have a caring nature too." Hito smiled at her.  
  
Anito turned away embarrassed. 'Next thing you know, my brother is going to be sending to the elders for a marriage contract or something.' She thought in dismay.  
  
The small bell over the shop door rang and Anito turned back towards the counter to assist the customer. She was happy to see Neji with Hinata, only a little surprised to see them holding hands. "Hi guys! Shopping today?"  
  
"Yes." Neji answered with only a slight smirk to his lips.  
  
"Well, feel free to look around Neji-san. But can I borrow Hinata for a minute?" She gestured for the younger girl to follow her back into the kitchen.  
  
"I'll be just a moment, Neji." She squeezed his hand and threw a laughing glance over her shoulder as she followed Anito into the other room.  
  
"So how did your scheme with Sakura work?" She asked curiously.  
  
"Far better than expected. Check out these pictures." She pulled the very compromising photos from her handbag and gave them to Hinata.  
  
"No way." Hinata whispered in shock. "Wow, this is just evil. You do realize that you now have black mail material on that idiot? I can't believe he didn't see right through Sakura's illusion." She handed the pictures back to her friend, blushing faintly at how naughty Ebisu looked.  
  
"Yeah, Ino said that she wanted to get a copy and blow it up poster size for her bedroom. She is such a hentai." Anito and Hinata both laughed.  
  
"Umm, so what is up with you and Neji?"  
  
"Well," Hinata looked at the floor suddenly shy. "Father gave Neji permission to court me and he is being so sweet it's surprising really. I always admired him, but I think I could be head over heels in love with him." Her face turned bright red at this admission.  
  
"Good for you, Hinata. It is so nice that you found someone who can truly appreciate you." Anito congratulated her.  
  
"Yes, and it worked out in a strange way, but it is for the better. Father said that since we were serious about this and wanted to marry eventually, it would give him a reason to end the separation between the branch family and head family. What nobody seemed to realize is that he would have had to name whoever wasn't the ultimate heir for the family house a branch family, so it would probably have been me since he decided to replace me with Hanabi." She sighed. "It would have been the same as it was years ago when father's younger brother was named a branch family. The head family is composed of only the direct heir."  
  
"That is messed up; positively medieval," Anito muttered in disgust.  
  
"Yes. But if Neji and I marry, father said that he would name him the heir because he has the strongest blood in the family besides father and that he would change the family structure so that all members must answer to the head of the family, not the head family. That there would be no further separations."  
  
"I'm not sure I understand the distinction, but I think I understand that it will mean a lot more responsibility for the head of the family. He will have to make sure all members receive equal care and consideration, won't he?"  
  
"Yes. That is a big part of it. Father needs to do some more planning to nail out all of the specifics." Hinata looked happy that the repression was going to end.  
  
"Your father must have been very pleased then." The blond half asked.  
  
"Father was very pleased. It gave him the excuse he wanted to bring Neji into his family and help raise and train his brother's child. Neji used this to my advantage though. He got father to agree to let me train as a medic nin. He told father of all the advantages I would have in that field and in a realistic way made father see that it was what I am best suited for." Hinata had a dreamy smile. "Neji even requested for Hokage-sama to talk to father about the training and the opportunities and father was glad that the Hokage herself agreed to train me. I think he was relieved to find something that I could do well and bring honor to the family."  
  
Anito smiled happily at Hinata, "Neji must care for you a great deal to go through all that trouble for you. He is not a guy to let go of, that's for certain. However, speaking of go, we should go back into the shop so I can see if he needs anything."  
  
The white-eyed girl put a hand on her arm to stall her for a moment, "Anito- san, I have a huge request to ask of you." She looked down at the floor in nervousness.  
  
"What is it?" Anito asked puzzled.  
  
"I know that you said that you would finish your master work in a year and that it would be a katana. I would like to purchase it from you when it is finished. I want to give it to Neji for a wedding gift. He is going to join the ANBU about that time and I would feel safer knowing that he had such a reliable blade in dangerous situations. Although with our blood line limits he may never actually have to use a blade, it would mean so much to me." Hinata's sincerity and feelings deeply touched Anito.  
  
"I would be honored. Hinata-san to allow you to purchase my master work." She said solemnly, blinking back a tear and hugged her friend. "Now let's go out to the shop."  
  
In the shop, Neji had selected several new kunai and was waiting patiently for Hinata. They left together to complete the rest of their errands calling a cheery farewell.  
  
'They are so sweet together.' Anito commented to herself.  
  
She worked in the shop for a few more hours sharpening blades and assisting customers before she had to get ready for her date. 'Finally. Now to get out a towel and go take a shower.' She pulled open her closet door and from over head poured a bucket of midnight blue paint, totally drenching her. "I HATE YOU EBISU!!!" She screamed, paint dripping off her hair, eyelashes and body. 


	9. Bad hair day and Kakasi likes boxers?

Hi to all— Thanks for taking the time to review my story. I know that the whole date thing is a little rushed, but its hard to write meaningful dialogue over something so common. Anyway, poor Ebisu is not having a good day and Kakashi only makes it worse. Anito might be planning some revenge in the next chapter- but I haven't decided how yet. This chapter is pretty fluffy though, and Iruka is just too sweet. But that is kind of how I see him acting around a girl that he has a crush on. Hope you all enjoy this latest installment and please feel free to leave reviews. They are fun to read and if you come up with ideas, I might be able to use them. – Well, if they fit into the story.  
  
Anito looked at her hair in despair. There was nothing she could do to fix it before her date. While the paint had come off her skin with only a lot of scrubbing, her hair was now tinted a light blue. She was furious with Ebisu. 'If I am lucky I won't have to cut it all off. ' She contemplated as she looked at her knee length blue hair in the mirror. 'If I have to cut my hair to get rid of this damage, Ebisu is going to rue the day he ever met me.' She carefully brushed out her hair which now had a very dried out nasty texture to it and then braided it and pinned it in elaborate arcs around the back of her head. 'Well, if I can't fix it, I can at least make it look like I did it on purpose. At least the color matches my new dress.'  
  
She heard a knock at the door and her brother's muffled voice talking to Iruka. "Anito, your date is here!" Her brother yelled up the stairs.  
  
'Gee thanks, could he be any more embarrassing.' She muttered to herself. She pasted a smile on her face to cover her nerves and carefully walked down the stairs not wanting to trip in her high heels. It had been almost a year since her last date and that had ended very badly when she found out the guy just wanted to get her into bed, but actually had a crush on one of her cousins and was trying to make her jealous. That had been a twisted situation. But it was hardly the first time that a guy asked her out just so he could try to have sex with her. Some guys were such jerks, totally lacking in all sincerity. Iruka was one of the few cute guys that had shown an interest in her work, family or thoughts. That alone was a good reason to agree to go on a date with him. Plus, he passed her brother's approval test, which was no easy task. Her brother had a tendency to be overprotective.  
  
Iruka's mouth dropped open at the sight of the formerly blond girl walking down the stairs. She was really beautiful. Even if she had done something odd with her hair. He reasoned quickly, ignoring it would make her think he didn't like it. Saying the wrong thing would just piss her off. Dilemma, dilemma. He handed her small mixed bouquet and figured that flattery was his best option. "You look wonderful. Your new hair style is really cute." He stated, hoping he didn't sound like an ass.  
  
"Thank you. I had a little help with my hair; someone thought I needed to try something new. But I think I like my old look better." She smiled faintly.  
  
Iruka cleared his throat. "Well, umm, let's go then. Shall we?" He held out his arm for her to hold onto, as she looked a little unsteady on her heels.  
  
"Great. I can't wait to see what you have planned." She sounded a little breathless and Iruka couldn't decide if it was because she was trying to balance on her ridiculously high shoes or for some other reason.  
  
"You kids have a good time now." Her brother, only older by five years but sounding like someone's father; herded them out the door, grinning like an idiot. He shut the door behind them and started singing to himself off key. "Anito has a crush, Anito has a crush."  
  
Anito groaned in mock agony at her brother's embarrassing behavior. Iruka faintly blushed but was smiling at the thought anyway.  
  
Iruka chatted with Anito about how her day had went and he told her about his students and their interesting personalities and his work in the administration office while he guided Anito through a number of streets until they came to a building with soft bluesy music coming from a place down a narrow set of stairs that obviously led to a basement of a building. "It looks a little funky from the outside." Iruka warned. "But this place has really good food, a nice atmosphere and a dance floor so I hoped you would like it." He told her nervously. He didn't really get the chance to date much and it had been a long time since he had a relationship with a woman, so he was trying to feel his way through situations without accidentally insulting her or something. He was very interested in everything about the girl and didn't want to screw up the chance she had given him.  
  
He cautiously led the way down the steep, narrow stairs into the semi-dark room. The hostess showed them to a small candlelit table in a secluded corner. The evening with Iruka went splendidly. He was sweet and charming, they talked easily together. After a wonderful dinner, a small musical group started to play a haunting jazz style melody. "Will you dance with me?" Iruka asked.  
  
"I would love to." Anito was assisted to the dance floor and Iruka held her comfortably in a loose embrace. He was graceful, moving easily to the steps of the dance in time with the music.  
  
"You have practice at this I see." Anito smiled up at him.  
  
"Some. My mother used to love to dance and she would make me be her partner most of the time. It was terribly embarrassing for me as a little boy, but now I miss it." They continued to dance, their bodies moving together in a delicate unison.  
  
'I could really fall for this guy.' Anito thought to herself. 'Everything about him is nice.'  
  
Ebisu was sitting in the bar listening to the music, absentmindedly. He and several other shinobi had decided to go to the Blue Grotto to celebrate Genma's birthday. He was thinking more about the argument he had with Becky that afternoon. It was over something totally insignificant and petty. He had surprised himself. He told her that she was annoying and that he wanted to break up. Ebisu hadn't even considered it before that point and time, but all the sudden he found that he couldn't stand anymore of her whining and self-absorbed personality. He snapped and told her that it was time to end their relationship. She had cried for a few minutes, thinking that she could manipulate him into changing his mind with tears. When that didn't work, she became furious and started shrieking at him like a supernatural banshee. In that moment Ebisu realized how truly ugly she was and thanked all the gods of luck he had not married her yet.  
  
So he found himself sitting in a bar staring into space. Vaguely hearing the others talk around him. Until someone mentioned a name that caught his attention. "Anito?"  
  
"Yeah, you know that new girl in town. She's over there on the dance floor with Iruka. They seem to be having a date or something." One of the other guys spoke up. "Damn, lucky guy, she is totally hot."  
  
Ebisu felt himself bristle at that last remark. 'What is so damn hot about that little slut?' Even though his thoughts lingered on her constantly, and he knew she wasn't a slut. He still thought of her in hostile terms. She threatened his equilibrium. He glances over at the dance floor and started to snicker into his hand. The girl may have been in a poorly lit room, but he could tell that her hair was not blond at the moment. 'Pay back's a bitch, baby.'  
  
It was getting late and there was a crowd in the bar that was starting to get noisy. Iruka did not want his first date in a long time to be ruined by a bunch of loud mouth idiots, so he told Anito that he had another place he wanted to show her. He led the way back outside and onto the sidewalk.  
  
They walked to the base of the Hokage monument and Iruka looked down as Anito gamely tried to follow. She stumbled slightly on a small rock. "Hmm, I think that you are not wearing the best shoes for this outing. Would you be terribly offended if I carried you the rest of the way?"  
  
Anito shook her head and climbed onto Iruka's back, wrapping her knees around his sides. He jumped into the air and she shrieked and started to laugh as he gave her a wild ride up to the top of the Hokage monument. "Oh, that was fun! I never knew that ninjas could move like that! It's amazing!" She gasped, out of breath.  
  
"We will have to do that again to get back down, so I'm glad you liked it." He gave her a boyish grin. Truthfully, he always got a thrill out of the long jumps and running leaps himself, it was what he imagined flying would be like. "But this is why I brought you up here." He gestured out at the view of the town with a twinkling mass of stars glowing above it.  
  
"Wow," gasped Anito. "It's beautiful!" They stood in silence for a while; she leaned against her date, relaxed by his easy presence.  
  
Iruka was paying far more attention the girl next to him than the scenery. He noticed some of the lights in the town below start to go out and realized it was getting late. "It's time to go." He bent down so that Anito could climb onto his back and then leaped down along the original path. He sped across the rows of houses as the girl clung tightly to him. A sensation he was enjoying immensely. They reached her house far to soon.  
  
"Thank you for coming with me tonight. I had a great time." He looked her in the eyes and stated with a direct honesty that came from the heart.  
  
"I had a really nice time also." Anito smiled up at him. She surprised him with a soft lingering kiss before hurrying into the house.  
  
Iruka touched his lips, feeling dazed. "Wow." He whispered and turned to walk to his own apartment, not even paying attention the surroundings.  
  
Ebisu was getting frustrated, the other shinobi were teasing him about being a housemaid for the week and it was starting to get old. He was also annoyed with Iruka for some reason he wasn't really willing to think about to much. Just as he felt like he would explode, Kakashi sauntered over to his seat and whispered into his ear. "The red hearts on the white boxers wasn't as surprising as what was concealed under them." Kakashi winked at him with his visible eye and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.  
  
"Oh my god. I am so doomed." He muttered to himself, stricken at the thought of Kakashi seeing him during that very embarrassing moment. He was even more shocked when he considered the implications of Kakashi's statement. "I hope that doesn't mean Kakashi is bi as well as being a pervert." He shivered, a cold chill traveling up his spine as he was consumed by the horrifying thought of Kakashi and him in bed. 


	10. Why Not?

Hello again and thanks to all my great readers and special thanks to all the great reviewers! This is a short chapter, but I still think it is pretty funny. I am making Kakashi into quite the straight man (comedian term)-- he just has that special something. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this super short chapter.  
  
Anito had come up with the perfect plan to get Ebisu back for the blue haired date. He would never expect this trick in a million years. Even if his guard was up. The young ninja reported for his daily slave duty, as he liked to refer to it, and was told to go into the back yard and start plowing a piece of land marked off to plant a garden. He toiled away for a couple of hours under the hot sun, before he heard a small voice asking him a question.  
  
Sai watched the man his cousin wanted him to prank and grinned in glee. He quickly covered it up. "What are you doing?" He asked curiously.  
  
"I am making a garden." Ebisu responded.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because Anito wants me to."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know. Probably so she can have fresh vegetables."  
  
"Why?"  
  
And on the repetitive question went. Sai trailed Ebisu around and asked him "why?" for over half an hour before he was called inside. His twin brother quickly came out and started the process all over. The poor shinobi had never heard children say the word why so many times and he was truly losing his patience. However, after dealing with Konohamaru, he had learned to control what he did and said around little kids. He didn't like it when the little parrots repeated things they shouldn't.  
  
As soon as he finished cutting the dirt into furrows for planting and taking the weeds and rocks out of the area, a different kid came up and started to ask him the question. By the time he was ready to start planting seeds and root pieces he was also ready to pull out his hair.  
  
He shooed the kid away and finished his task as quickly as he could, hoping some other kid did not show up to ask him "why?"  
  
He managed to get his task finished and went in to tell Hito that he had an appointment with one of his students in an hour and needed to go home and get changed. Hito waved him out of the shop and thanked him for his hard work.  
  
Ebisu picked his pupil up at the academy and started outlining his training for the afternoon. Every chance his young charge got he asked the question "why?" After about an hour of this the tutor excused himself and ran to a distant part of the training grounds where he promptly began screaming in frustration. After calming he returned to his student and told him if he asked why one more time he would have to do 10 laps around the village. The jounin shinobi was brought to the point of ranting and screaming by curious children. He sincerely hoped no one else witnessed his supposed mental breakdown.  
  
That morning Anito went out with Sakura to visit the local beauty parlor and try to have her hair restored to its normal blond shade. "The idea just popped into my head this morning when I was fixing Sai and Yuni breakfast. They just asked me why two or three times and it occurred to me that Ebisu could not possibly fight back on this prank. So I had the two boys round up Ebisu's student and a friend and promised them all a treat if they could bug the idiot enough with asking why that he flipped out. After all, people are always taught that children are supposed to ask questions and its nothing that would get them into any trouble at all. Just drive him crazy."  
  
Sakura laughed, clutching her stomach as Anito explained her brilliant plan for revenge. "Man, I wish I were around to hear this. But Kakashi will have us out training this afternoon."  
  
"Yeah, I thought of that too. That's why I gave Sai a pocket recorder to give to the kid Ebisu is tutoring. I may have more blackmail material yet." Anito smiled.  
  
Her hair was very messed up, the beautician ended up having to bleach it to her normal color and then to using extensive conditioning treatments. It must have taken hours to finish. By the time Anito got out she was starving. She walked by a shop that sold sushi and noticed they had little bento boxes in one of the fridges. Looking at her watch she determined that it was just about time for lunch at the academy. Anito purchased two bento boxes and hurried to the school to see if Iruka would like to have lunch with her.  
  
Iruka was sitting at his desk, grading papers when she walked into the room. He looked up and smiled in greeting. "Hi, I wasn't expecting to see you today."  
  
"I was in the neighborhood and it was time for lunch so I thought I would drop in. Are you hungry?" She asked hopefully.  
  
"Hey great. That was really thoughtful of you." Iruka walked around his desk and picked up her hand, leading her down the hall to the teachers lounge. "Actually, I have been very distracted today. My mind keeps wandering away." He confided.  
  
They spent a pleasant time chatting with each other over lunch and then it was time for Iruka to go back to work and for Anito to go back to her shop.  
  
Ebisu was standing shopping in a small grocery when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see Kakashi also buying food to make dinner. "Hello. Why..." He never got a chance to finish the sentence as Ebisu dropped his groceries and ran out of the building holding his ears. "Darn, I was just going to ask him why he was late to the party yesterday, I need some new excuses." Kakashi mused as he picked up the mess Ebisu left behind. 


	11. Perverts and Pigs and Bears, Oh My!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review my story in the past, I know it has been forever since I have last updated this fic.-- Sorry, major case of writer's block on this one.-- Anyway, hope you all enjoy the newest installment.

In the shop, Hito was busy handling orders from several customers. Anito was fitting a small hand guard onto a tang for the sword her brother had finished the day before when Ebisu stormed through the door. "You... You evil woman! I will get you back for this some day!" He turned around and hurled himself back out the door. The people in the shop just stared after him in amazement.

"Gor, but I think that boy has lost it." One of the customers announced and the rest nodded in agreement gossiping about the reasons for his insanity.

"Yeah, well, I heard from Izza that old woman that works at the grocery that he was out in the street with nothing on but his boxers trying to make love to air." Another of the gossipy men added to the growing list of the Jounin's crazy actions. They finished up their business and went out the door discussing other shinobis that they considered -not all there-.

"To bad." Hito murmured. "He seemed like such a nice young man too. I was hoping him and Anito would hit it off if Iruka didn't work out."

What the hell?!" Anito whacked her brother over the head. "Why are you trying so hard to get me married off? And you are nuts, you know that."

"I just want you to have a good secure future with someone who will look after you." He whined in reply, rubbing his head.

"You are an idiot." Anito told him. "Both of those guys are military personnel. Their job puts them at risk pretty frequently and that is not something I would consider a secure future. Besides that I don't want to just marry some guy for a secure future. I want a guy that will respect my craft and me, be interested in my real personality and give me as much of himself as he can. It doesn't matter to me if the person is a merchant, a craftsman or a shinobi as long as he fulfills those other requirements and I love him too. But either way, get your nose out of my love life." She turned around in a huff to go up the stairs to her apartment and then paused for a moment. "Oh, big brother, isn't it time that you considered getting married? You are the eldest after all and you are the one with the family responsibilities." She pointed out before stomping up to put her room together.

"I should really just keep my mouth shut sometimes." He sighed.

Anito finished putting her drapes on the rods and managed to hang them with out any assistance, even though it was very awkward. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and looked at her grimy clothes. "I really need a bath." She put together her bathing supplies and clothes and pocketed some money to buy herself dinner at the ramen stand.

There was hardly anyone around when she went to the outdoor bath and she was able to simply relax and have a nice soak. 'I really don't know why I yelled at my brother like that. Except he is acting too much like our dad. I guess he is worried about me.' She considered while pulling on her clean clothes. She had chosen to wear her usual crop tank top and black leather hot pants to show off her legs. She pushed all of her old clothes and bathing supplies into her gym bag and headed out the door.

At the exact same time as Ebisu walked by the door; Anito tripped in a small pothole and fell into the ninja who was easily knocked over. Her bag went flying and somehow Ebisu ended up on top of her, having also tripped when he was so unexpectedly pushed. The girl was slightly dazed and did not even notice that Ebisu's hand was firmly grasping her right breast until someone started to cough to get Ebisu's attention.

"Agh! You pervert!" She yelled, quickly scooting away from him.

"Damn Ebisu, you have interesting luck, but publicly grabbing a girl is not the best way to impress her." Kakashi pulled Ebisu up by lifting him under his arm and extended a hand to help Anito up also.

Anito's cheeks flushed and she quickly bent over to pick up her gym bag.

"Umm, Anito-san, you have dirt all over your backside." Kakashi hesitantly informed her, unabashedly staring at her butt.

Anito brushed off the dirt and stomped away muttering about pigs and perverts and men being jerks.

Iruka was busy grading papers when he broke out into a sneezing fit for the fourth time that day. 'Damn, somebody is really talking about me today or I am getting one hell of a cold.'

Ebisu stared after the retreating figure, his hand hanging in the air as if it had a will of its own. "Did I just do what I think I did?" He Whispered.

Kakashi slapped him on the back playfully. "You lucky dog, you."

The younger Jounin grinned a bit, brain still not completely functioning. "I'm not too sure about that. She plays dirty when she gets ticked off."

Anito climbed the steps leading to the top of the hokage monument and sat. She really just wanted to get away from everyone and do some drawing. The blond girl kept getting a weird design in her head for the hand guard of her masterpiece. Something to do with mythical birds. She was trying to put her vision onto the paper, but the fragments of the picture kept eluding her. She played around with different ideas for a while before noticing that it was starting to get chilly. Quickly packing up her things she headed for home.

Opening the back door and stepping inside proved to be a pleasant surprise; she could smell fresh bread baking and something else that was really making her mouth water. 'Umm, yummy food. Wait a minute, Hito can't cook. What the heck is going on here!' "Hello, I'm home." She called out.

"Oh, Anito, you're home, just in time too. Ebisu stopped in earlier and once he found out how busy I was in the shop, volunteered to make dinner for us." Her brother informed her enthusiastically.

"You have got to be kidding me." Anito darted into the kitchen to see if her brother was joking. There stood Ebisu stirring a pot wearing her yellow ruffled apron. An apron that she thought she had thrown away, because ruffles were to be considered a horrible abuse of fashion. 'I wonder if I have a camera around here somewhere.' She grinned mischievously.

Ebisu turned to and caught that look, shuddering in horror at what it could mean. "Welcome home, could you please set the table for dinner?" He asked in his politest tone. He hoped it would prove enough of a distraction to get her mind away from whatever it was plotting next. One thing is for sure; he was never bored around Anito.

The apprentices ran in from the shop bumping into Anito and she tried desperately to catch the falling plates that were slipping out of her hands. Ebisu quickly whisked them out of the air before they could hit the floor and handed them back to her. He pushed his glasses further up his nose and turned back to his food with a small smile on his face as she just stared in amazement. He moved so fast, she hadn't even seen it. Shaking her head, she quickly put the plates on the table.

"You didn't put a nasty surprise in the food did you?" Anito asked, peering over Ebisu's shoulder to look in the pot.

"No. I would only do that if it was necessary for a mission and besides that, I am going to be eating too. So don't be an idiot." He glared at her.

"Just checking." She shrugged and went to get the silverware. "After all, you were the weirdo that was yelling about revenge in the shop this morning. A girl can never be too careful."

"I am still formulating plans for revenge. Don't worry, it will happen when you least expect it and keep in mind, I can do a lot of scary things." He grinned at her evilly. Something about Anito really brought out the worst in him.

Normally, Ebisu was restrained and dignified, acting as a proper Jounin should. Or at least that was his self-image. But, ever since the first moment he saw Anito; he acted incredibly strange. He was impractical, spontaneous and hasty, and occasionally the past few days even seemed fun. Which was really odd, because he rarely considered anything fun, mildly amusing perhaps, but not fun.

The dinner was nice; the food was great and even the kids behaved properly. Anito was feeling awkward. Hito and Ebisu talked about politics and events around fire country and even missing nin. It was surreal. She played absently with her hair as she listened to the two men having a lively discussion on what type of sake was the best. 'Ebisu might actually be cute, if he took off those glasses. The rest of his face is strong and good looking, but the sunglasses just ruin the look.' She mused to herself. 'He does have a really good body, but you would expect that from a ninja. Why the heck am I thinking about him like this? I don't even like him. He is a brute and a pervert and pompous ass so what the hell am I thinking?!' Anito shook herself out of her daydream feeling confused about the direction her mind was taking. She frowned down at her empty plate and got up top take it to the kitchen.

"Thank you for making the wonderful dinner Ebisu. I appreciate your effort on behalf of my family." She bowed. "I need to go work on a design for a while. I will get the dishes later if you leave them in the kitchen."

"Don't bother, that's what we have apprentices for. Right boys." He encouraged.

"Yes, Hito san." They grumbled in unison.

"I am glad you enjoyed my cooking Anito." Ebisu answered her cheerfully. "I believe that tomorrow is the last day I am scheduled to work with you, so I will be in bright and early."

"Right." Anito waved at him and hurried up to her room.


	12. The Rivals

I have fianlly added a new chapter-- my writer's block has temporarily given way. Rejoice and review!

If I owned Naruto- I wouldn't be writing fanfic, would I. There is no beta and I am lazy, so there are grammar errors /

Ebisu wandered through the shop looking at the different arrangements; "roses are so overdone. I must be more original. Maybe just the rose stems with thorns. It would be fitting for her shrewishness." He giggled to himself "But hardly something that would impress her."

"Hello Sempai." Ino greeted him cheerfully. "Are you looking for a gift for your girlfriend?"

"Oh, no. This is for Anito-San." He blushed. "I can't decide what she would like though." The Jounin gave a frustrated glance around him at the bright display of flowers.

"Well how about something different? I know Iruka Sensei gave her some pretty cut flowers the other day. But we just received a shipment of live jasmine plants. They would last for years and make Iruka Sensei's gift seem boring in comparison." Ino conspired.

"That sounds like the perfect idea." Ebisu happily paid for the expensive plant and sped off to place the plant in the backyard as a surprise.

Of course, the lazy Jounin strolling down the street witnessed the whole event. "I must tell Iruka-kun of the rival for the fair Anito's affections." He mumbled through his mask and tucked away his favorite orange book, in order to watch the drama.

Iruka impatiently tapped on his desk hoping Kakashi would get to the point of his story before the class began. "So anyway, I think Ebisu wants to score with Anito." Kakashi prattled on.

"What?! Back up, rewind. Ebisu is flirting with my future girlfriend? " Iruka snapped.

"Well, he bought her a nice plant and gossip at the grocer says he made dinner for Anito's family the other night. I think he's trying to muscle in on your claim." Kakashi smirked. "But just to be fair Genma said she was cute." Kakashi paused as Iruka fumed. "And I think a sexy chick like her would be a lot of fun. Maybe I should ask her out too." He grinned.

"You! You gossiping lecher!" Iruka screamed. "Stay way from Anito you damn pervert!" Iruka threw an eraser at the laughing Jounin.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going. You better bring you're a-Game." He taunted.

"Damn it!" Iruka huffed in irritation. "I won't lose to them. I will win Anito's heart."

Somewhere out in the training field Maito Gai was struck by a sudden urge to spout about the spring of youth, even though he was training alone.

Anito went out to do some weeding in her garden when she noticed the new addition to her backyard. "Isn't this nice. I wonder…"

"Ohayo! Anito-san!" Chirped Ebisu. Making Anito jump.

"You startled me."

"I wanted to surprise you."

"Well you did that." She agreed.

"Do you like the jasmine? I added it this morning." Ebisu did a pose with his hands on his hips, chin struck in the air.

"The jasmine is beautiful Thank you." Anito smiled and bounced a little, making her shapely assets bounce under her tiny shirt. Ebisu was dazzled. His attention drifted to her exposed stomach and the cute, little butterfly jewel winking in her belly button. "Yeah, drool is not a good look on an elite Jounin, mister. I have to finish up some knives for a special order. Here's your chore list. Hentai!" Anito flounced off, Her butt almost hanging out of her Daisy Duke cut-off shorts. Her hair flowing behind her from a high topknot. Poor Ebisu could only stand there for a few minutes trying to stop the blood trickling out of his nose.

Later in the afternoon Naruto stopped by to invite the other blond to a special announcement at the academy. "It's a surprise for, but the Hokage has been planning this announcement for months."

"But should I go?" Anito seemed puzzled. "I'm not a shinobi and out two apprentices are only in the civilian classes at the academy. "

"It's about Iruka." Naruto bounced on his toes barely containing his excitement. "I thought you would want to be there to show support for him. It's a big deal. He is going to be promoted. But he doesn't know it yet." Naruto glanced around hoping no one over heard his excited almost yells.

Anito started to get excited also. "That's so great!" She started bouncing and clapping her hands. The two blondes were eerily similar. "We should give him a gift for congratulations."

'Totally!"

"Party!" They screamed in unison.

"We need ramen…"Naruto began.

"And chocolate cake!" Anito added.

Hito stuck his head in from the side room where he was working at the forge. "I'll set up the Bar-B-Que. pit and get sake. Lots of sake."

"Wow! We should hurry and place orders at some restaurants and the bakery. There's no time to cook all of this."

"Especially the way Chouji eats." Agreed Naruto.

With the help of Nature's clones, they quickly arranged all of the catering. And got the weapons range set up for a big party that night.

Anito dug through her closet and found her silk sari in multi-shades of blue with the matching sequined tube top. Her hair was done up in an elaborate knot with curls spilling down her back. She took one last look in the mirror to make sure she looked absolutely perfect. "Devastating if I do say so myself!" She giggled at her own vanity. She was hosting the party after all, and showing up in a leather black smith's apron would hardly be appropriate. She hurried down to the shop were Hito, Yuni and Sai were waiting impatiently for her.

"It's about time. Let's go." Hito growled, thinking about all the stupid ninjas he would have to beat away from his sister. His forge hammer might see some use soon.


End file.
